Visiting Copper Mountain

Copper Mountain

In late January, my friends and I took a “guy’s trip” to Copper Mountain, Colorado. This time, we decided to fly out to Colorado, instead of making the incredibly boring 12-14 hour drive like we usually do. We were a bit concerned things might not work out due to weather being an issue, but everything worked out perfect.

Six of us flew into Denver late Wednesday night, meeting one other to make seven. Instead of renting two, full sized SUV’s included with Four-wheel drive like most adults would, we decided to rent one mini-van. So, with seven seats, seven guys, and plenty of luggage, we had a stuffed, full two hour trip to Copper Mountain.

We were up nice and early Thursday morning. We had to drive into town to get our Ski’s and also food for the weekend. Once back at the condo, we all ate a quick breakfast, and were headed up our first ski lift of the trip before 10:30.

Skiing was much better than expected. Copper Mountain had a little over 30 inches at the base, compared to around 100 inches last year at this time. There were still several runs at the top of the mountain, and then the whole back of the mountain that were still not open. So, headed into the weekend, we were afraid the mountain would be very icy, busy, and skied out. On Thursday the snow was good enough for a great day of skiing, and then Thursday night we got almost 10 inches of snow, so we had fresh powder for Friday, and plenty of snow for the weekend.

No trip to Copper would be complete without attending happy hour at JJ’s Rocky Mountain Tavern, featuring live music by Moe Dixon. On Thursday nights, JJ’s is the place to be, known for its live music, engaging atmosphere, and also its famous “ski shot”. It’s tough taking a shot with six other people, but it always makes for a good time.

Overall the trip was very successful. We had perfect weather, great snow conditions, no injuries, and got to fly home instead of being stuck on I-70 for 18 hours in bad weather like my previous two ski trips. I was totally worn out by the end of the trip, having skied three full days and a long day of travel. We even ended up making a new friend while we were out there.